I could feel myself grow cold and sweaty at the same time, if that was even possible. Just the mention of his name made me want to vomit. He was the sole reason that I could not be with Gray or my family. They chose him over me and I am sure that I was not the only one they were hiding the secret for. Aunt Chris was the only one that did not stay loyal to him and maybe it was because she was his first true victim. He was a vile man that I once looked up to and cherished as my favorite uncle. That was until the day he became jealous over my relationship with Gray and decided to destroy it all. As I looked at Scarlette I wondered if she too had suffered from his abuse and if he had done the things he had done to me how she escaped with her normalcy. If she could do it then just maybe I could too. That thought alone gave me hope and the courageous to try.

She was still watching me as she had laid the journal down in her lap and the intense stare I was receiving was exactly the kind that reached into your soul and read all of your deep dark secrets.

"OMG that is what this is all about, this journal, your breakup with Gray and you moving in with us" she exclaimed to more herself that me.

"That bastard did it to you but on a whole different level" she continued looking up at the ceiling as she whispered something else under her breath.

I just sat there watching her emotional outburst as she went through the last couple of years and light bulbs started going off. Narrowing her eyes at me she pinned me to the back of the couch with those icy blue orbs as she glared at me.

"And not once you never thought you could confide in me" she asked with betrayal and hurt evident in her voice.

"Your mom asked me to try to not tell you so much and at the time I thought it was because she was trying to keep you immune to the entire ordeal" I said apologetically.

"My mom was trying to protect me" she asked sarcastically

"Well that is what I thought at the time, I swear I did not know anything other than I was dying on the inside and she was the only one that was willing to take me in" I offered.

To be honest, I was in a fog and had not even thought that any of my other female cousins could have been his victims to. But now I could see how wrong I was.

"I was not only your cousin but your best friend Em, we share everything together or so I thought" she whispered with hurt laced all through her words.

"If we were so close and shared everything then why am I just now finding out that he did this to you too" I asked with the equal amount of hurt in my tone.

"My mother told me that everyone would look at me different if I said anything and you were so happy with Gray that I did not want to ruin it for you. I guess we both made some mistakes by not confiding in each other" she said softly.

"We can talk about it now and figure out how to move on, but it looks like you are doing just fine now" I offered.

"Oh, we are going to talk about it but we are also going to fix it where he does not keep doing this to others. But more than anything you are going to get Gray back" she said seriously.

"I would love nothing more than to take that bastard down, but there is no way I would drag Gray back into this mess, he doesn't deserve any of this" I told her.

"Bull shit and you know it. Gray has tried to tell you that too but you pushed everyone away because that rat bastard of an uncle thought he could bully everyone to save his own ass" she yelled.

"True but he also threatened Gray with prison for engaging in a relationship with me while I was a minor and if I had not agreed to be quiet about his illegal activities then it would have happened" I reminded her.

She just rolled her eyes at me and gave me a look that I was really dumb. Scrunching up my face in confusion at her only made her roll her eyes even more.

"You know that threat was a ridiculous one that he knew you would fall for and of course your dad wanted it to go away so it would not harm their precious reputation. You were not a victim and although you were under age, you parents were totally fine with it until they found out that the almighty Greg was doing bad things so they weighed the options and you and Gray were minor casualties. They actually thought you would see it their way and everyone would go on living life in one happy bubble. Its happened to everyone of the female cousins and if I was a betting girl I would say even his own children" she said in a gush.

I looked like I was shell shocked I am sure because she just kind of smirked at me as she continued.

"I thought you would have figured all that out by now Em. My mom babied you too much because out of all of us you did loose the most, but no one figured you would ever give Gray up and I half expected you to run away with him. That would have been really cool, I would have sent you money and shit" she rambled on.

I felt like I was having an out of body experience and was watching all of this go on before me. If what she was saying was true then everyone knew but me and I was an oblivious blob that just had been co-existing in this world for no reason. I could have called his bluff that day like Gray told me to do but I went into panic mode, mainly because I was brought up to protect your family at all costs. I got caught up in the trauma of my situation, the loss of Gray, his future, my family and their inability to protect their daughter and the entire thing shut me down. Now looking at it from Scarlette's point of view, I could see I made some really grave and stupid mistakes in the last couple of years and I wasn't sure if I could correct them but I was sure going to try. The first step was for her to finish the journal so we could compare our situations, then I needed to muster up the courage to reply to his text message. He deserved to know everything but even more he needed to know that I still loved him.

"You finish reading the journal, we compare notes and we get a plan to take that bastard down" I told her with my new-found confidence.

"What are you going to do while I read it and no sulking aloud" she told me.

"I think its time I try to repair my life and try to get back some of what I lost" I told her honestly.

I was not going to lie, I was a scared wreck on the inside as I picked up my phone and watched her eyes go wide. I was going to do it before I chickened out and then once I sent the text message I was going to run to the bathroom and puke my guts up. I scanned my finger over the phone's home button bringing it to life and clicked on my messages. There from the number that I would always know sat two text messages that were pleading with me to talk to him. The first one asked if he could call me and when I had not answered that one, the second one said that he could not go on a day longer with out me and would I please give him another chance. He was not the one at fault here, why would he need another chance. Before I could change my mind, I fired off a text telling him that I wanted to see him and that I still loved him. After it was sent I just stared at it until I felt someone tug it out of my hand.

"He is not going to answer this was a bad idea" I told her in a panicky voice.

"He is probably sitting down not believing you actually answered" she said with a light giggle.

I was fixing to respond when my phone alerted me that a message had been received. Glancing down at his reply had me sitting straight up looking up at Scarlette with wild eyes.

"He said he is on his way over here to see me" I screamed.

"Like over here to our apartment" she said dumbly.

Like could she be anymore transparent right now. He would know where I was because she also had been in contact with him along with her mom.

"Don't play dumb right now, how much have you been talking to him and did you plan this reunion" I asked her.

"Well don't be mad but yes I did and I would do it all over again. And before you yell at me, he was supposed to wait a couple of days for you to get settled" she explained.

Boy she was proud of her self and you could see it written all over her face. As much as I wanted to scream at her I also was slightly happy she had planned this for me, because t showed how much she cared about me.

"I am not done being mad at you about this but I have to go at least brush my teeth or something because he said he would be here like in 10 minutes" I screeched as I jumped up from the couch.

As I was running down the hall towards my bathroom I swear I heard her say to her self that he must have been waiting in his car down the block for this. I did not have time to think about any of that I had to get my crap together and start getting my life back one person at a time. 

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So here is the other part to Chapter 5.  I hope you enjoy and don't forget to vote.  So Grayson is fixing to come over and I am so excited to share their love story with you.  I hope he can get past all of what has gone one and happened to Emilee.  Maybe he will help the girls get the devious Uncle Greg back.  I have laid some hints out but what do you think he has done that could be so terrible????  Let me know what you think!!! 

xoxoxo 

Ruby